Zaibunissa seeks pardon, daughter writes to Katju for help

While Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt on Thursday said he had not sought pardon from five years' sentence handed down by the Supreme Court in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Zaibunissa Kazi, whose case is similar to Dutt's, has sought one.

While Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt on Thursday said he had not sought pardon from five years' sentence handed down by the Supreme Court in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Zaibunissa Kazi, whose case is similar to Dutt's, has sought one.

While her daughter has written to Press Council Chairman Justice Markandey Katju in this regard, some news channels today aired video recording which showed Kazi herself appealing to the Governor for pardon.

Kazi is now 71 and, like Sanjay, has got five years' sentence. Her daughter has sent an e-mail to Katju requesting him to take up her mother's case with the Governor of Maharashtra for pardon.

Dutt was held guilty for possession of arms, given to him by gangster Abu Salem, and their subsequent destruction. Some of the weapons from this cache were kept at Kazi's suburban Bandra house for a few days.

Both Kazi and Dutt were charged under TADA Act for aiding and abetting a terrorist act and the Arms Act. But Dutt was held guilty only under the Arms Act while Kazi was convicted under TADA too.

"We have written a letter to Katju requesting him to take up my mother's case with the Governor too. We heard from media reports that he is planning to seek pardon for Sanjay Dutt," said Kazi's daughter who did not want to be named.

She added that her mother was innocent and had no connection with any person convicted in the blasts case. "My mother knew Abu Salem as a real estate agent. There was no recovery from our house of any weapon. We have suffered enough," the daughter said.